Introduction H ealth officials have long feared the use of biological weapons against the U.S. population, but since the September 11 and anthrax attacks, preparation for the possibility of bioterrorism has gained greater urgency. Smallpox is considered one of the most dangerous potential biological weapons because it is easily transmitted, few people carry full immunity to the virus, and there...

In 1796, Edward Jenner introduced the concept of vaccination with cowpox virus, an Orthopoxvirus within the family Poxviridae that elicits cross protective immunity against related orthopoxviruses, including smallpox virus (variola virus). Over time, vaccinia virus (VACV) replaced cowpox virus as the smallpox vaccine, and vaccination efforts eventually led to the successful global eradication o...

I N a country where smallpox is common, one would expect an association of smallpox with pregnancy to be a common occurrence. But a careful study of the available literature shows that not many such cases have been reported. When smallpox affects a pregnant woman, it tends to become very malignant. The sudden onset of signs and symptoms and the short duration of the disease and the rapid termin...

Despite evidence of smallpox in antiquity, a new study of a 350 year-old Lithuanian child mummy suggests that the global viral genetic diversity circulating during the 20th century was only around 200 years old.

After the declaration of world-wide smallpox eradication in 980, the World Health Assembly (WHO) has repeatedly called for estruction of all known remaining stocks of the smallpox virus [1]. fficially, only theUS andRussia have smallpox stocks, and neither, eferencing the value of their research agendas, have destroyed heir stocks. In response, WHO established an Advisory Committee n Variola Vi...

A quantitative assay for infective variola virus particles was developed which is based on the enumeration of cells containing fluorescent viral antigen after infection of McCoy cell monolayers. The direct fluorescent-antibody technique was employed to stain cells. The efficiency of virus adsorption was markedly enhanced by centrifugation of virus inoculum onto McCoy cell monolayers at 500 x g ...

Responding to a possible bioterror attack of Smallpox has become a major concern to governments, local public officials and health authorities. This concern has been reflected in numerous studies that model and evaluate possible response strategies. Many of these studies consider only vaccination policies and assume homogeneous mixing, where all instances of contacts in the population are equal...

The key events in the eradication of smallpox worldwide are related. Smallpox virus was spread by droplets, only from the appearance of the rash until scabs form, 4 weeks later. It only infected humans, making it a potential disease for eradication. It had been endemic in populous areas, largely China and India in ancient times, appearing in Europe in the 6th century and in America in 1520. ...

Clinical and Epidemiologic Characteristics of Smallpox Smallpox is a viral disease unique to humans. To sustain itself, the virus must pass from person to person in a continuing chain of infection and is spread by inhalation of air droplets or aerosols. Twelve to 14 days after infection, the patient typically becomes febrile and has severe aching pains and prostration. Some 2 to 3 days later, a...

Histories of smallpox and vaccination are both varied and voluminous. In purely epidemiological terms, smallpox has acquired for itself a position of significance far in excess of its numerical importance as a cause of death in the nineteenth century.1 Although mortality from the disease had already declined from high levels in the eighteenth century, smallpox vaccination has recently been cred...